Day 58 - A Day Trip! pt.1

Oh my goodness... I think this was one of the best days of my life. Catherine, Frank, Adilio, Joel and I went to Pirenopolis for the day - about an hour and a half's drive away from Aguas Lindas. It was a gorgeous drive and a fun group of friends and just generally incredible.Part way to Pirenopolis we stopped to look at a waterfall, and the green hills all around it are basically the same as the scenery that we drove through the whole way.

So the drive down the highway was great - Catherine and I talked in the front while the guys beat each other up in the back in between all of us singing songs until we arrived in Pirenopolis. It is an old city that dates back to Portuguese colonizers looking for gold, and it is now famous for its celebrations during the Festa do Divino Espirito Santo. I asked Frank what giant bull heads have to do with the Holy Spirit Festival, but apparently part of the celebration involves people dressing up with these big cow masks. I still don't see the connection lol, but the colourful statues around the city were cool, and the city is SO pretty! The streets are all cobblestone and the houses are lovely, and it is so clean! :)There is a church that you can just sort of see at the top of the street through the trees. We didn't go here, but it is the oldest church in the state and there were lots of souvenirs that had a picture of it. There is also a picture of this church on the Wikipedia site, so you know it's real!

Our first mission in Pirenopolis was to see the amazing waterfalls. There is a hiking trail where Joyce always takes groups here on short term mission trips, so we went there.

The hike started quite a ways out of the city, probably 15 or 20 minutes down a dirt road. The drive was no big deal because we are used to the roads in Aguas Lindas which are still terrible compared to this, but I took a video for the scenery and to share a little bit of the experience :)

Continue on to Part 2 for more!!

A Day Trip! pt.2

This is the tough barn at the beginning of the trail up to the waterfalls.

And this is some of the scenery from the path... amazing.

Like a bridge over troubled water (?)The first waterfall along the path

Yet another bridge that rustically bent under your weight and was totally fall-offable

Another waterfall on our way up the mountain! Interesting fact: the woman whose head you can see at the bottom was wearing a one-piece bathing suit. Catherine thinks she's probably not from Brazil because... that just doesn't happen here.
This is where the path got steep. And by steep I mean... climbing with hands and feet, holding onto tree roots and the ever-present cable wires. What you see in this picture is tame.
But the path was so worth it! Part way up the path carved into the side of the mountain was another waterfall, and I braved the current to cross over onto the rock where you see me standing :) It was cool and misty and great, and then we kept climbing up.
This is THE waterfall. And that's my head swimming in it! Joel is standing in the place where we eventually jumped off, but that didn't happen until like 45 minutes of deliberation. I am proud to say that he finally decided to jump after I said I'd do it first, and my deliberations only lasted like... 10 minutes? It was a lot harder once I was actually standing in the place looking down at the trees growing out of the cliff and imagining what would happen if the impact broke all of my bones.

But then I jumped anyways! This pose is what I like to call the "fear position" where you've just jumped off a cliff and are bracing for impact, for drowning, for a wedgie... whatever you happen to get. My first jump was amazing and I was so proud of myself! My second jump was more painful and a lot of water washed through my nose into my lungs, so that was kind of a buzz killer, but it was Totally worth it!!

Day 45 - Making Cookies!

This week was Carnaval, so most schools were closed, and courses at Free Flight were cancelled on Tuesday. Catherine and I mixed up some cookie dough on Monday, and we spent Tuesday morning baking cookies with some kids. We bagged them up after lunch and delivered them to people in the neighbourhood in the pouring rain :) I forgot how much I love making cookies! Mm, and they were so delicious (we had to test them, of course!)

The testing!Rolling out the cookies in front of the kitchen. Putting chocolate sprinkles on the sugar cookies :)And our trusty oven operator, Wallace.Catherine and some kids putting the cookies in paper bags for delivery.

Day 44

Today was an unofficial holiday because of Carnaval, so most of the schools were closed and there were lots of people around at Free Flight! I had an awesome day hanging out with kids.
This is me with my favourite baby who still won't let me hold him while he's awake.
This is a backlit picture of a fantastic cheerleading triangle that we made!
I said that I spent the day hanging out, right?
And a fantastic group picture of some of my friends here.

I am working on getting some video from the day to post - the first rain that we had in a week, and some of the breakdancing that happened on Monday, so check back :)

Day 42 (Feb.21) - A Touristy Day in Brasilia

Today Joyce took Joel and I on a tour of Brasilia. It was a really fun and relaxing day! There is not too much history in Brasilia because the city is less than fifty years old, but there are some monuments we went to, and we saw government buildings as well as the house where the President lives! He has emus in his yard, which we were lucky enough to see running around, and a decorative guard who I got my picture taken with.

Our tour ended at the communications tower where there is a market most weekends. We went up the tower (75m) and saw lots of neat crafts and clothing and art and instruments etc. in the market.

Pictures!!

This is me outside of the Brasilia cathedral. The part that is above ground is actually the ceiling of the cathedral, and the statues outside are Luke and John. Matthew and Mark didn't make it into the picture, but they chill out front of the cathedral too ;)You can see the stained glass from the inside, which is very beautiful, and three angels that hang from the ceiling. They look like stone, and they are a very nice touch in the sanctuary. It is very simple there, with lots of light. I liked it a lot.lThis is a bridge from near where the President lives to one of the mansion districts outside of Brasilia. It is a pretty cool design, with the arches going over the road in different directions.A picture of me outside the entrance to the yard of the President's house with the decorative guard who stands there and his spokesperson :) This is one of some emu that live in the President's yard! And you can see a bit of the end of the President's house. Just imagine like, 12 more windows like that and you get the idea. I was more impressed with the emu!This is a picture of the city taken from the radio tower - Brasilia is built in the shape of an airplane, and this picture is directed towards "the cockpit" of the plane, where the government sits. The tall white building in the middle is where congress sits, and the greenish whitish buildings are the offices for the different ministries. Residential areas are in the "wings" that you can't see - to the left and right of the city's core.

The Market

Beautiful Pictures

There is an incredible pink flower that opened up on the lawn across from the ice cream store, so I wanted to post pictures of it, and then when I was at the same lawn this afternoon knitting over lunch, there were some butterflies flying around, and one kept landing on flowers, so I broke out my camera and am going to post pictures of that too :) Enjoy!